John Smoltz is about to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY after having an excellent, if unusual, career as a pitcher primarily for the Atlanta Braves. His 213 wins, 154 saves, 81.6 career WAR, 3,084 strikeouts, and numerous awards and accolades as a pitcher got his name on 82.9% of the ballots in his first year of eligibility. He is rightly being recognized as one of the all-time greats, but the beginning of his career did not portend greatness.
In 1985, it was Smoltz's hometown Detroit Tigers, not the Atlanta Braves, that drafted him.